Boston Sports Clubs and Fitcorp to Merge

Plus: Electroshock therapy used on students; synthetic chemicals in everyday products are dangerous; and more health news.

Boston Sports Clubs (BSC) and Fitcorp are merging. BSC is owned by Town Sports International, a New York-based company that owns and operates 60 fitness clubs nationwide, including 25 in the Boston area. Fitcorp has five locations in Boston. The deal will not go through for another four to eight weeks and no information regarding membership fees and changes is available at this time.

A Mass. school is still using electroshock therapy on students and the Patrick administration wants it to end. The Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton uses the controversial treatment to control children and adults who have developmental dis­orders or other special needs. The state’s motion comes two months after federal health officials said they would stop paying for treatment at Rotenberg. [Globe]

Many products we use everyday are filled with synthetic chemicals and a United Nations-sponsored research team reported today that these chemicals are a partial cause of a global surge in birth deformities, hormonal cancers and psychiatric diseases. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals or EDCs may also be linked to a decline sperm count, female fertility, and to an increase in once-rare childhood cancers. Scary stuff. [NBC News]

About 5.8 million women have used the “morning after pill” which equals about 11 percent of sexually active U.S women between the ages of 15-44 years old according to the National Center for Health Statistics. The analysis was based on responses collected through in-person interviews with 12,279 women from 2006-2010. The report shows that it is most common among women ages 20-24, who are college-educated, never married, and Hispanic and white. [USA Today]